1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a silver halide color photographic light-sensitive material, and more specifically, to a light-sensitive material in which deterioration of the graininess caused by a matting agent is suppressed.
2. Description of the Related Art
A silver halide color photographic light-sensitive material generally has at least one silver halide emulsion layer on a support, and a surface layer, i.e. protective layer, formed thereon, using a hydrophillic colloide material, a typical example of which is gelatin, as a binder. With such a structure, the surface of the photographic light-sensitive material increases its adhesiveness or stickiness when preserved under a high-temperature and high-humidity atmosphere. As a result, the light-sensitive material tends to adhere by itself or to some other material. The adhesion phenomenon, which is an obstacle to the use of the light-sensitive material, occurs during the manufacture, preservation, photographing, processing, projecting, or preservation after processing, of the light-sensitive material.
For solving such a problem, there is a well-known method of reducing the adhesiveness of the light-sensitive material, wherein fine particles (matting agent) of an inorganic substance such as silica, titanium dioxide, magnesium oxide or magnesium carbonate, or of an organic substance such as polymethylmethacrylate or cellulose acetate propionate are added to the protective layer to increase the surface roughness, thereby matting the surface.
Color light-sensitive materials, in particular, contain a large amount of oily substances in their light-sensitive and non-light-sensitive layers, and therefore the adhesion phenomenon is more likely to occur. Thus, the color light-sensitive material requires addition of a larger amount of the matting agent.
However, the above-mentioned matting agent is insoluble in an alkaline developing solution, and remains in the light-sensitive material after the development. As a result, if the matting agent is used in a great amount, the transparency of the formed image is lowered, or the quality of image is degraded.
There is a technique employed in this field, for avoiding such a drawback, wherein used is a matting agent which is insoluble in a neutral or acidic solution, but soluble in an alkaline solution such as a color developing solution. Examples of such a matting agent include those consisting of a copolymer of methyl methacrylate (to be abbreviated as MMA hereinafter)/methacrylic acid (to be abbraviated as MAA hereinafter) at a mole ratio of 6/4 to 9/1, disclosed in JP-B-57-9054, a copolymer of ethyl methacrylate (to be abbreviated as EMA hereinafter)/MAA, disclosed in JP-A-58-66937, and a copolymer of MMA, EMA and MAA, disclosed in JP-A-60-126644.
Even if the above-mentioned alkali-soluble matting agent is used, however, the agent is not completely dissolved in a developing solution and remains in a deformed form, or even if completely dissolved, it leaves hole marks after the dissolution. As a result, when printing is carried out with the specular light or similar light, the image subsequently obtained has graininess deteriorated due to the hole marks. Therefore, it is not adequate that the amount of the matting agent is increased to solve a static fogging problem caused by the adhesion phenomenon. The degradation of graininess caused by the matting agent is a major problem particularly in a super-enlargement printing for a general color negative film, preparation of an intermediate film for a movie, or in projection using a positive film.
As a solution, an acid polymer may be used in order to prevent the degradation of graininess. However, it has been found that the addition of an acid polymer containing a carboxyl group, phosphoric acid group, or sulfonic acid group to the outermost protective layer degrades the anti-adhesion property, resulting in a tendency to generate static fogging.
In addition to matting the surface, there is known, as means for suppressing static fogging, to use an ultraviolet absorbent to absorb the generated static light, making it harmless. The inventors of the present invention have conducted a variety of comparison tests on matting agents and ultraviolet absorbents, and have come to a conclusion that it is more effective if the protective layer contains an ultraviolet absorbent to achieve the purpose of the present invention.